On October 14, 1952, the Battle of Shangganling officially broke out. After the battle began, the US Seventh Division and the South Korean Second Division, supported by a large number of artillery and aviation troops, simultaneously launched a fierce attack on our 597.9 highland and 537.7 highland North Hill. At that time, the enemy's firepower was absolutely superior, and on the first day of the war, 400,000 shells were poured into our army's positions, and the fire density was as high as six rounds per second. Under extremely difficult circumstances, the 45th Division of the 15th Army relied on the tunnels to stubbornly resist and inflicted a large number of casualties on the invading enemy.
After 13 days of fierce fighting, the US 7th Division was forced to withdraw from the battle due to heavy losses. But the enemy was not content to lose, and Clark and VanVleet decided to continue Operation Showdown. They put the US 9th Division, the US 187th Airborne Regiment and the Colombian Battalion into combat one after another, and transferred the recruit formation division and training wing in Seoul to the Jinhua area so that they could be replaced with the fight. At this time, it was very difficult to rely only on the 45th Division to hold its position, so the head of the Third Corps decided to put 4 regiments of the 12th Army into battle, and appointed Li Desheng, deputy commander of the army, as the commander-in-chief of the front.
Li Desheng, a native of Xinxian County, Henan Province, joined the revolution at the age of 12 and joined the Ranks of the Red Army at the age of 14. After receiving the task of reinforcing Shangganling this time, he made meticulous arrangements, and asked the four regiments participating in the battle to organize cadres at and above the platoon level and backbone combat cadres of squads to go to the front in batches to conduct on-the-spot investigation and familiarize themselves with the enemy's situation and terrain.
In the nearly one month since then, Lee Deok-sang commanded the participating troops and the enemy to engage in fierce fighting, annihilating about 7,000 people of the South Korean 2nd Division and the 9th Division, restoring and consolidating the 537.7 Highland North Mountain, completely crushing the enemy's attack, and making important contributions to the final victory of the Battle of Sangganling. After returning from Korea, Li Desheng held important positions many times, reaching the rank of zhengguo. So who was the commander of the 12th Army at the time? He is Zeng Shaoshan.
Zeng Shaoshan, a native of Jinzhai, Anhui Province, joined the Red Army at the age of 15 and participated in major battles and battles such as the anti-"three-way siege" and the anti-"six-way siege" with the troops. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as a staff officer of the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and the regimental commander at that time was Chen Xilian. He soon discovered Zeng Shaoshan's military talents and began to constantly promote him. Chen Xilian was the brigade commander, zeng Shaoshan was the brigade chief of staff; Chen Xilian was the commander of the column, and Zeng Shaoshan was the deputy commander; Chen Xilian was the commander of the corps, and Zeng Shaoshan was one of the three major military commanders under him, and his status was on a par with That of Wang Jinshan.
It can be said that Zeng Shaoshan participated in all the major battles and battles in which Chen Xilian participated. After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Zeng Shaoshan led the 12th Army into the Korean War and participated in the Fifth Campaign and the Jinhua Defense Operation, and his performance was remarkable. After returning from Korea, Zeng Shaoshan became the deputy commander of the Third Corps, and the position of commander of the 12th Army was taken over by Li Desheng. Since then, he has held many important positions, and in 1973 he became the secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee and the second political commissar of the Shenyang Military Region, and in this year his former deputy Li Desheng served as a zhengguo. It is rare in the history of our army that the chief and deputy commanders of an army have achieved such high achievements.